HONOLULU (AP) — The second recent blunder in Hawaii’s planning for a possible North Korean nuclear attack left islanders shaken after an emergency alert warning of an imminent strike sounded on hundreds of thousands of cellphones.

For nearly 40 minutes people waited. Then came the second mobile alert: someone hit the wrong button, there was no missile.

Some people abandoned cars on the highway and others gathered in the interiors of their homes to wait for what seemed like the inevitable, a blast that would cause widespread death and destruction.

The message sent statewide just after 8 a.m. Saturday read: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s administrator, Vern Miyagi, said he took responsibility for the mistake. He said officials would study the error to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

The state adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Joe Logan, said a written report would be prepared. State lawmakers announced they would hold a hearing next Friday. And Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said on social media the panel would launch an investigation.

“It appears that the government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards or
process controls in place to prevent the transmission of a false alert.” – FCC
(NBC News)

The backlash from lawmakers was swift.

Hawaii House Speaker Scott Saiki said the system Hawaii residents have been told to rely on failed miserably.

“Clearly, government agencies are not prepared and lack the capacity to deal with emergency situations,” he said in a statement.

“There needs to be tough and quick accountability and a fixed process,” he wrote.

“This false alert is detrimental to the integrity and trust of the emergency management system,” said state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim.

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The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency tweeted there was no threat about 10 minutes after the initial alert, but that didn’t reach people who aren’t on the social media platform. A mobile alert informing of the false alarm didn’t reach cellphones until about 40 minutes later.

Many people said they are resigned to the fact that there is little they can actually do if a missile was to be launched toward the remote island chain, especially with only about 15 minutes of warning time for a strike from North Korea.

Joseph Kira was home with his kids when the alert came. His wife was at the gym.

“My wife was going ballistic,” he said. “At that point, you just pray and find God, I guess.”

With the threat of missiles from North Korea on people’s minds, the state reintroduced the Cold War-era warning siren tests last month that drew international attention. But there were problems there, too.

Even though the state says nearly 93 percent of the islands’ 386 sirens worked properly during the December test, 12 mistakenly played an ambulance siren. In the tourist hub of Waikiki, the sirens were barely audible, prompting officials to add more sirens there and reposition ones already in place.

Mary Hirose was with her children at an ice skating arena in Honolulu when the alert came.

“Here, there is nothing you can do,” she said. So, she grabbed her four children held them close, listened to the news and hoped for the best.

She questioned why it took civil defense so long to send out the all-clear and why they tweeted before sending a mobile push alert.

Hawaii officials apologized repeatedly and said the alert was sent when someone hit the live alert button instead of an internal test button during a shift change.

“Today is a day that most of us will never forget,” said Hawaii Gov. David Ige. “A day when many in our community thought that our worst nightmare might actually be happening. A day when many frantically tried to think about the things that they would do if a ballistic missile launch would happen.”

The agency did not have a plan for a false alarm in place, officials said.

Ige called the mistake unacceptable

“I am sorry for the pain and confusion it caused,” he said. “I, too, am extremely upset about this.”

On the H-3, a major highway north of Honolulu, vehicles sat empty after panicked drivers ran to a nearby tunnel for shelter, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. Workers at a golf club huddled in a kitchen fearing the worst.

Professional golfer Colt Knost, staying at Waikiki Beach during a PGA Tour event, said “everyone was panicking” in the lobby of his hotel.

“Everyone was running around like, ‘What do we do?'” he said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Sunday on “Fox News Sunday” that people should still abide by alerts and the blunder was “a very unfortunate mistake.”

The White House said President Donald Trump, at his private club in Florida, was briefed on the false alert. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said it “was purely a state exercise.”

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Looks like the Japanese screwed up bigtime in bombing Pearl Harbor. They could have just waited 75 years to take over Hawaii from a Democrat socially frightened Mr. Miyagi “Wax on Wax off” fake Nuke attack. Hawaiians should not be asking themselves who pushed the wrong button, but who and which party has socially pushed THEIR buttons to morph the social FUNdeMENATLLY changed population from war waging 1941 American fightingEagles into socially dependent frightened 2018 sheep, with no ability to SELF-govern themselves in cases of actual emergency. Let them now see the gasping dying social canaries in the Hawaiian political and social defense coal mine, and start electing real Leaders with backbones and intelligence to prepare for the future like good Conservatives, rather than spending and consuming up the present, like incompetent defenseless wax and waning Democrats ,,,,who prefer to spend money defending foreign invading DACA immigrants, than building our own National military capabilities.

America tried the “Well, let’s try to feed this bear and maybe he won’t bother us!” approach to defuse international situations sure didn’t work for the Clinton and Obama regimes. All it did was give them $Billions to build up their nuclear programs and militaries. Trump’s approach to a dictator is what fells all bullies, getting in their face with overwhelming force. If you believe that the Hawaiian government accidentally left the “early nuclear warning” sirens on for 37 minutes by accident and not to gin up some socialist fervor against that cowboy Reagan, er Trump(same old Progressive Socialist playbook but a different President), who will incinerate the planet because he is crazy, it is you who need a coat that ties in back.

I think you are right, Marines. I smell a SET-UP here. Last I heard, EVERYTHING about the nuclear defense system requires MULTIPLE authorizations to prevent a lone NUT CASE from deliberately starting a nuclear war! ONE person can’t launch a nuclear alert–it takes MULTIPLE people turning MULTIPLE keys or pushing multiple buttons. If I’m not mistaken, it would be QUITE impossible for ONE person to cause all this by “pushing the wrong button,” which is the “official” excuse being given.

The canards, frauds and schemes just keep coming from the party of Marx, Mohammed and Manning to overthrow the legitimately-elected President of the United States and put in his place the hung-over stroked-out gimlet-eyed hag he defeated. They are now crashing and burning so fast that the Obammunists do not have new hoaxes ready to replace them. The preposterous clerihew about the “sh*thole” remark that the President clearly did not make, that was heard only by habitual liar and tribune of the illegal aliens Turban and jumped on in an obviously planned and coordinated fashion by their media propagandists, and the patent lie by the New York Times that ambassadors and government officials were resigning in protest of what was not said, could not even reach takeoff velocity as all of the lie’s proponents except Turban admit that the remark was not made. Since there must be a new lie every day, the only shot the party of Hillary, Hodgkinson and Hatred had to fire was to turn inside out a dreadful example of democrat governmental incompetence and blame it somehow on the President; fortunately they had accused murderer Carrey and menopausal has-been Curtis warming up in the bullpen for virtue signaling, and could send these nearly-forgotten C-listers onto the field.

medrake–that these LOONS seem to believe that all they have to do is remove Pres. Trump from office, and history will magically reset and HILLARY will be in the White House just shows how DELUSIONAL they are.

They apparently are too far gone to comprehend that even if they SUCCEED in removing Trump from office, the ONLY thing that will happen is that VP Pence will become President, and will CONTINUE Pres. Trump’s agenda. So if they were operating anywhere NEAR the realm of reality–which they are NOT–they would realize it won’t do them a DAMNED bit of good to remove Pres. Trump from office!

And for all those media idiots saying “This was just one person who made one stupid mistake and pressed ONE WRONG button”.. I SAY BULL..
A statewide alert of this magnitude, wouldn’t be instigated with just ONE BUTTON getting pressed by ONE PERSON. It would have had to been at least 5 or more..
One pressing the button sounding the alarm. Someone elsewhere seeing it, and confirming that the ‘button being pressed was actually done and not a fault. Another then calling up the governor to say “WE need to send out an alert. The governor then saying “Send it. AND AT least one to two more other people DOING the ‘send out the alerts’…